
Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts
The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground
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Narrated by:
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Don Leslie
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By:
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Robert D. Kaplan
About this listen
In this extraordinary audiobook, Robert D. Kaplan lets listeners experience up close the American military worldwide in the air, at sea, and on the ground. Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts provides not only a ground-level portrait of the Global War on Terrorism on several continents, but also a gritty firsthand account of how U.S. soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen are protecting sea-lanes, providing disaster relief, contending with the military rise of China, fighting the war in Iraq, and crafting contingency plans for war with North Korea and Iran.
Expanding on Kaplan’s acclaimed Imperial Grunts, Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts shifts focus to the Pacific and completes his analysis of army Special Forces and the marines, while also taking listeners into the heart of the myriad tribal cultures of the air force, surface and subsurface navies, and the regular army’s Stryker brigades. Kaplan goes deep into their highly technical and exotic worlds, and he tells this story through the words and perspectives of the enlisted personnel and junior officers themselves.
This provocative and illuminating audiobook not only conveys the vast scope of America’s military commitments, but also shows us astonishing and vital operations right as they unfold - from the point of view of the troops themselves.
©2007 Robert D. Kaplan (P)2007 Books on TapeListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The mighty, iconic A-10 Warthog was first thrust into battle in Operation Desert Storm. The men who took it through walls of flak and surface-to-air missiles to help defeat the world's fourth-largest army were as untested as their airplanes, so they relied on personal determination and the amazing A-10 to accomplish their missions, despite the odds.
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Overall
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
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Story
You do not have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd’s fascinating personal tale, woven around his 28-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through the narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia; Europe to the Middle East; linking the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot.
-
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Overall
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Performance
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BUY A HIGHER CALL FIRST - IS MUCH BETTER
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Razor 03
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The attacks of September 11, 2001, prompted the creation of a robust and deadly special operations force—Task Force Dagger. Alan C. Mack, Callsign Razor 03, led a team of MH-47E helicopters and armed MH-60s. Their two-fold mission–Personnel Recovery (PR) and Unconventional Warfare (UW) involved flying in terrain and weather previously not thought possible. If that wasn’t enough, they pushed the flight envelope of their specially modified Chinooks to the limit and beyond.
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Critic reviews
"Kaplan combines the travel writer's keen eye for detail and the foreign correspondent's analytical skill to produce an account of America's military worthy of its subject." (Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- RICK MEREDITH
- 07-22-15
Little dry
A lot of good information on the military and where military is going but it's a little drawn out in the explanations.
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Overall
- Bradley
- 07-29-11
If You Liked Imperial Grunts
Just as much quality thinking and great writing as Imperial Grunts. Don't let the other reviews deter you!!!
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Performance
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- Charlotte A. Hu
- 05-19-13
Great Detail, Brings Life and Understanding to Air
I loved the attention to detail in this book -- how the author talks about his wife, family and the difficult of serving one's country on deployed. I loved the intricate details about the boring, often repetitive nature of the job and the sheer chaos of intense moments.
I think I was just a little too close to the story having lived a lot of this life myself that the story didn't hold me through. I just lost interest. I hope that's not the case for other readers who may never have experienced the military or a deployment. This is a real life, accurate account of the lives of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.
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- The Lifelong Learner
- 03-06-13
The story is over before you want it to be
Kaplan's excellent overview takes you into places you didn't know existed on the map of American influence. While the myriad and diversity of military missions are interesting, Kaplan tells a deeper story of the gamut of human characters who do this work. It's their stories that make you unable to put down the book. Highly recommended.
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Overall
- Samuel
- 02-15-11
Tedious is the Best Description
I was expecting a lot more from the previous reviews. This is a very long book but it never goes into much detail, rather the author skips around the globe visiting various military operations. He barely touches on each before it's on to the next destination. This is one of the few audio books I've purchased that I finally gave up on from sheer boredom. The writing did not grab me and there never seemed to be any point to the narrative. Good bedtime reading.
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1 person found this helpful